Ralph Hall

Ralph Hall (3 May 1923-7 March 2019) was a member of the US House of Representatives (R-TX 4) from 3 January 1981 to 3 January 2015, succeeding Ray Roberts and preceding John Lee Ratcliffe. At the age of 91, he was the oldest member of the US House in its history; he was a conservative Democrat for 50 years, but he became a Republican in 2004.

Biography
Ralph Hall was born in Fate, Rockwall County, Texas in 1923, and he served as a US Navy lieutenant during World War II. He became a lawyer in 1951, and he served in the State Senate from 1963 to 1973 as a conservative Southern Democrat. In 1980, he was elected to the first of several terms in the US House of Representatives, and he was one of the most conservative Democrats in the House, supporting a balanced budget amendment and the requirement of a super-majority for tax increases. He supported his friend George W. Bush's presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004, and he switched his party to Republican in 2004, leaving the Blue Dog Coalition. In 2014, he was defeated by rival Republican primary candidate John Lee Ratcliffe, forcing him to retire at the age of 91. He died in 2019 at the age of 95, the last World War II veteran to serve in the House.